US2246590A - Telephone coin collector - Google Patents

Description

June 24, 1941; r F. A. HOYT TELEPHONE COIN COLLECTOR F'i led Dec. 5, 1939 lNl/E/VTOR By EAHOVT Arm/mgr Patented June 24, 1941 2,246,590 TELEPHONE COIN COLLECTOR Frederick A. Hoyt, East Orange, N. J., assignor to Bell Telephone Laboratories, Incorporated, New York, N. Y., a corporation of New York ApplicationDecember 5, 1939, Serial No. 307,623

2 Claims.

This invention relates to telephone coin col lectors of the post-pay type in which the deposit of a coin is not required until after the called party has answered, whereupon a coin is needed to establish a talking connection between the calling andcalled lines.

The primary object of the invention is to provide at a coin collector substation an improved mechanism responsive to coin deposit for producing the desired control of the central office equipment.

In certain collector substations of the postpay type it is customary to permit the calling partyto dial the desired connection without coin deposit. When the called party answers, a characteristic tone on the line notifies the calling party to deposit a coin in order that a talking connection between the two parties will be established. For example, the deposited coin in. passing down the collect chute may momentarily open a shunt around a high resistance in the substation circuit to release a suitable relay at. the central office to complete the desired connection. The present invention is concerned with the coin operated mechanism for controlling the substation contacts, which must be operated before conversation may take place.

In accordance with the preferred form of this invention the collector comprises a pair of normally closed contacts which act as a shunt to the above-described resistance. These contacts are under the control of a pivoted lever having an angular projection at each end, one extending into the upper portion of the collect chute and the other extending into a lower portion of the chute. This lever near its pivoting axis carries a cam which acts to open the contacts when the upper end is deflected by a deposited coin and serves to reclose the contacts when the lower arm of the lever is subsequently actuated by the same coin. The time taken by the coin in falling from the upper lever extension to the lower lever extension determines the time the contacts are held open and hence this opening time can be made of a uniform duration well within the time limits permissible from a circuit standpoint.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 is a side view of a coin collector embodying this invention;

Fig. 2 is a wiring diagram of a collector substation of the post-pay type;

Fig. 3 is a front View of the coin hopper of this invention;

15 coin entering hopper 3U passage down Fig. 4. is a sectional view of the: apparatus of l0 deposited in payment for a given call upon insertion in gauge 8 traverses an individual chan' nel of a multicoin chute EWhere it actuates a. suitable signaling device such as a. gong or bell.

before dropping. into the coin hopper Iii. Any Iii after actuating a pivoted lever i l passes directly and without delay into a cash box located within the lower housing i2.

As shown in Figs. 3 to 6, the hopper it provides a substantially vertically arranged coin which the coinfreely passes except for its actuation of a lever i'i. Lever H is suitably supported from a side wall of the hopper and is pivotally mounted on a pin it; The

upper end of the leverhas an angular projection 5 M which normally extends through-slots in both side walls of the hopper and which has a downwardly inclined coin engaging surface It to enable a descending coin to rotate the lever about its pivot l3 to an extent sufficient to allow the coin to proceed down the coin hopper. The lower end of the lever has a similar angular projection it which is also adapted to extend through slots in both side walls of the hopper to occupy a coin obstructing position with a downwardly inclined coin receiving surface I'l.

Also mounted on a side wall of hopper H) are two spring contacts I8, it which are normally biased to closed position. The lower end of spring contact l8 has a roller 28 lying within 40 the path taken by the lateral extension 2| of lever arm 2.2 whenever the lever is rotated counter-clockwise as viewed in Fig. 4. Contacts l8 and I9 when opened serve to remove a short circuit around the associated high resistance element 23 for a purpose to be explained later.

The operation of the device will be explained V in connection with Figs. 4 to 6, inclusive. A deposited coin 24 falling into hopper l0 strikes lever projection 14 a glancing blow to force a counter-clockwise rotation of the lever from its position of Fig, 4 to its position of Fig. 5, thereby removing upper projection M from the coin channel while inserting the lower projection [6 into the channel. The coin released from pro- 55 jection l4 thereupon continues down the channel to strike projection It a glancing blow to force a clockwise rotation of the lever from its position of Fig. 5 to its position of Fig. 6, thereby removing projection It; from the channel to permit the coin to enter the cash box located below the hopper Hi while restoring lever H to its original position.

The counter-clockwise rotation of lever H produced by a coin striking the upper projection M causes lever extension 2| to engage roller 20 and cause the movement of spring contact It to the left a distance sufllcient to open the contacts as seen in Fig. 5; while the clockwise rotation of lever I! resulting from the coin actuation of the lower lever projection 66 substantially disengages cam 2! from roller 2! thereby permitting the contacts 18, I9 to close again as viewed in Fig. 6.

It, therefore, follows that the time taken by the coin in falling from the upper lever extension it to the lower lever extension is accurately determines the time interval through which the contacts l8, 19 are held open. In certain commercially used circuits for collectors of the postpay type, it is desirable that the shunt around the high resistance be open for only a short time interval which lies between the limits of 0.1 and 0.3 second. Such a requirement can be readily met by the apparatus just described.

The circuit diagram of the substation as shown in Fig. 2 requires only a brief description since it is of the customary type employed for collector substations for use in areas served by small unattended dial offices except that it employs the pivoted lever of this invention for opening and closing the contacts. It will be noted that the momentary opening of contacts 1 8, !9 serves to place resistance 23 in series with the line thereby producing a momentary reduction in the value of the current in the line sufiicient to cause the release of a relay at the central ofice to establish a, talking circuit between the calling and called parties. The central olfice equipment to be controlled by such a substation may be of the A type disclosed, for example, in the Jacobson U. 8 Patent No. 1,376,814, issued May 3, 1921.

What is claimed is:

1. In a coin collector, a coin hopper having a substantially vertical coin channel traversed by deposited coins, an elongated lever mounted ex ternal to said hopper and pivoted at a point intermediate its ends for oscillatory movement in a substantially Vertical plane, a pair of normally closed electrical contacts, means on said lever for opening said contacts when said lever is in an advanced position and for closing said contacts when said lever is in normal position, an arm on the upper end of said lever normally projecting into an upper portion of said coin channel for actuation by a deposited coin to move said lever to said advanced position, and an arm on the lower end of said lever projecting into a lower portion of said channel when said lever is in said advanced position for actuation by said deposited coin for restoring said lever to its nor mal position.

2. In a coin collector, a coin hopper having a downwardly inclined coin channel traversed by deposited coins, an elongated lever mounted external to said hopper and pivoted at a point intermediate its ends for oscillatory movement from a normal position to an advanced position in a plane intersecting said channel, a pair of electrical contacts, a spring member biased to close said contacts, means on said lever engaging said member to maintain said member in position to open said contacts when said lever is in said advanced position and to permit said member to close said contacts when said lever is in said normal position, an arm on the upper end of said lever normally projecting into an upper part of said channel for actuation by a deposited coin to move said lever to said advanced position and an arm on the lower end of said lever projecting into a lower part of said channel when said lever is in said advanced position for actuation by said deposited coin for restoring said lever to its normal position.

FREDERICK A. HOYT.

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